J.M.S. Careless, the Canadian historian who wrote seminal works on George Brown, urban history and a changing Canada, has died. He was 90.

Careless died Monday at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital, according to his son, James Careless.

Careless won two Governor-General's Awards for his books of history — one for Brown of the Globe, a two-volume portrait of one of the Fathers of Confederation, and Canada: A Story of Challenge, which became a standard one-volume history of Canada.

He lectured at the University of Toronto from 1945 and became chairman of the history department in 1959.